Follow

Fifty poems lead readers off the beaten track, following trails carved by running water or the paths deer leave behind, into wilderness close to home. The settings are Ozark Mountain woods where crows call and coyotes roam, and the verses carry the scent of damp limestone, the song of hidden warblers, and the odd finds that turn up along the way: a jawbone, a cave shaped like a keyhole, a waterfall that has never been named.

Fourteen photographs sit among the pages and let in light the way a canopy does. The collection is designed to prompt readers to chart their own routes toward wonder and the spiritual. In a statement from the poet, she explains that any walk in nature can yield something worth writing about, and that her own pleasure in those places tends to drift into mystery. Poetry, she says, is how she goes exploring the ledges and the dark hidden inside caves, and the waterfalls still waiting for names.